The present invention relates to a method for providing geographic information, and more particularly to a method of providing geographic information for display on a computing platform, such as a navigation system.
Vehicle navigation systems are available that provide end users with various navigation-related functions and features. For example, some navigation systems are able to determine an optimum route to travel along a road network from an origin location to a destination location in a geographic region. Using input from the end user, and optionally from equipment that can determine the end user's location (such as a GPS system), the navigation system can examine various potential routes between the origin and destination locations to determine the optimum route. The navigation system may then provide the end user with information about the optimum route in the form of guidance that identifies the driving maneuvers required to be taken by the end user to travel from the origin to the destination location. The guidance may take the form of visual and/or audio instructions that are provided along the way as the end user is traveling the route. Some navigation systems are able to show detailed maps on displays outlining the route, the types of maneuvers to be taken at various locations along the route, locations of certain types of features, and so on.
In order to provide these and other navigation-related functions and features, navigation systems use geographic data. The geographic data may be in the form of one or more geographic databases that include data representing physical features in the geographic region. The geographic database includes information about the represented geographic features, such as the positions of the roads, speed limits along portions of roads, address ranges along the road portions, turn restrictions at intersections of roads, direction restrictions, such as one-way streets, and so on. Additionally, the geographic data may include points of interest, such as restaurants, hotels, airports, gas stations, stadiums, police stations, and so on.
There are various navigation systems that graphically display maps of geographic areas. For example, some vehicle navigation systems include a display screen upon which a map of a geographic area can be displayed graphically. In addition, by using appropriate software applications, maps can also be displayed on general purpose computing platforms, such as personal computers and personal digital assistants.
Some navigation systems and applications that display graphical maps include features that allow a user to interact with the map. Various types of user interaction may be supported. Among these types of user interaction is the ability to zoom in or out. When a user zooms in on a map, a sub-portion of the originally displayed map is selected. The user may operate a pointing device for this purpose. Then, a new map is graphically displayed. The new map corresponds to the geographic area of the selected sub-portion of the originally displayed map. The new map is at a larger scale than the originally displayed map so that new map fills the same area on the display screen of the computing device on which the originally displayed map had been shown.
Although navigation systems provide many important features, there continues to be room for new features and improvements. One area in which there is room for improvement relates to providing geographic information to a computing platform having a user interface that provides only limited entry of information. Additionally, there is room for improvement for providing geographic information that may be stored on the computing platform and readily provided for display without strenuous processing requirements.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to have a way for providing geographic information to a computing platform having a user interface that provides only limited entry of information. Additionally, it would be beneficial to have a way for providing geographic information that may be stored on the computing platform and readily displayed without strenuous processing requirements.